Have to feed a crowd? Craving something comforting? Need a quick and easy weeknight meal? Looking for a recipe that freezes beautifully? This Spaghetti Squash Chicken Lasagna checks all the boxes.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 50 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 9 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash (about 4 pounds)
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped into bite-size pieces (3 cups)
- 2 cups cooked chicken, such as from a rotisserie chicken
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 15 ounces part-skim ricotta
- 1 egg
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- Chopped fresh basil, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and any visible strings. Place the two halves cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake until soft, about 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the kale and chicken and cook down, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and turn off the heat.
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese and the cooked kale mixture. Stir until well combined and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish, then spread half of the cooked spaghetti squash on top. Top with half of the ricotta mixture followed by 1 cup of marinara sauce. Repeat the layers once more, ending with a layer of sauce; sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake until it is hot and the cheese is melted, bubbling and slightly browned around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand for about 10 minutes, then top with basil, if using, and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 362 calorie |
| Total Fat | 16 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 7 grams |
| Sodium | 608 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 28 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 grams |
| Protein | 28 grams |
Reviews
I did not read the reviews before making this, so I did not drain the squash, LOL! The bad news is there was a lake in the bottom of my pan. The good news is this was STILL amazingly delicious! My kids even loved it, and that’s a BIG deal! I used cooked ground chicken instead of rotisserie, and we aren’t fans of ricotta, so I used Giada’s bechamel instead (you make the bechamel in a pan and pour over the assembled lasagna just before baking). This one will go into our regular rotation for sure! Next time I will drain the squash and it will be PERFECT!
Definitely start by draining the water from the cooked squash. I cook the squash the night before, set the colander in a bowl, place a plate on top of the squash with a weight on top of the plate and set it in the fridge overnight to drain. About a cup of moisture is removed. I replaced the chicken with chicken or turkey sausage, everyone loves this dish. Comes out with perfect texture and a nice rich flavor. If your looking for a easy marinara sauce recipe, Giada has a great one.
Very tastey. I followed recommendations and drained the juice from the squash. Definitely worth the extra effort. I also used chicken sausage and chopped it up. The parmesan addition to the ricotta mix should not be missed and i added parsley.
Made this tonight for a healthy, hearty fall meal. Tastes great but as others say it’s very gloppy so be prepared for that. Also, make sure you season the squash before you cook it (just rub a little EVOO and salt/pepp on each half) and be generous when seasoning the kale/chicken mixture. I also added salt/pepp and grated parm to the ricotta mixture and also added parm to the topping. Definitely added a great extra flavor. Using chicken, I think this would taste even better with alfredo sauce so I might try that some time (though admittedly a bit less healthy!).
This dish was delicious! Kids and husband gobbled it up without asking where the noodles were. Based on the reviews, I strained out the squash water in a tea towel. It was perfectly moist and I love having leftovers.
I really like the flavors in this recipe, but as previous commenters have stated it’s very runny. The second time I made it I used 2 spaghetti squash and squeezed out the moisture really well before layering them in the dish and it made all the difference.
This is really delicious. I tweaked it a bit and used spinach instead of Kale and added grated cheese and parsley to the ricotta mix. Chicken I cubed seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked in my air fryer
I wasn’t a fan. It was too runny. Froze it and used as pasta sauce
I really liked this recipe, my daughter did too and she is not a fan of spaghetti squash. The recipe doesn’t say one way or the other, but I prefer to shred the chicken and not cut it into chunks.
I was looking for something new to do with spaghetti squash and this hit the spot. I checked a couple of reviews and made some changes to address some of the earlier comments. One issue was some people had a more liquidy outcome. That can happen with spaghetti squash, so after cooking the squash I drained it after pulling it out of the gourd and set it on paper towels to absorb the extra liquid. I
also squeezed the extra liquid out gently before layering it in the casserole. In order to keep the marinara sauce from creating too much liquid, I added 3/4 of a can of tomato paste to my marinara to thicken it up. The results were worth the extra effort. The lasagna held together nicely with a minimal amount of liquid left in the bottom of the pan.
I also used sweet and spicy turkey Italian sausage instead of roasted chicken. I just peeled it from the casing and browned the sausage while breaking up it up well with a spatula a and wooden soon (using both is quicker and gives a nice “ground beef” consistency to the sausage). The outcome of this modified recipe really tastes wonderful, with just an extra kick from the sausage.